Homicide

6 months after Pennsylvania barracks ambush, wounded trooper on long road to recovery

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2014, file photo, a man places flowers in front of the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove Township, Pa. On Sept. 12, 2014, state Trooper Alex T. Douglass was wounded after a shooting ambush at the barracks that also killed state Trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson. Douglass, who had run a 50-mile ultra-marathon, is now learning to get around on an artificial hip. Six months after being shot, he has undergone 15 surgeries to repair the damage, and No. 16 is on the horizon.(AP Photo/The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys) WILKES BARRE TIMES-LEADER OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT (The Associated Press)

In this Friday, March 6, 2015 photo, a sign marks the location of the barracks for the Pennsylvania State Police in Blooming Grove Township, Pa. On Sept. 12, 2014, state Trooper Alex T. Douglass was wounded after a shooting ambush at the barracks that also killed state Trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson. Douglass, who had run a 50-mile ultra-marathon, is now learning to get around on an artificial hip. Six months after being shot, he has undergone 15 surgeries to repair the damage, and No. 16 is on the horizon. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Pennsylvania State Police shows Trooper Alex Douglass. On Sept. 12, 2014, Douglass was wounded after a shooting ambush at the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove Township, Pa., that also killed state Trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson. Douglass, who had run a 50-mile ultra-marathon, is now learning to get around on an artificial hip. Six months after being shot, he has undergone 15 surgeries to repair the damage, and No. 16 is on the horizon. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania State Police, File) (The Associated Press)

Alex Douglass ran a 50-mile ultra-marathon last year. Now he's learning to get around on an artificial hip.

Six months after a sniper's bullet shattered his body, the Pennsylvania State Police trooper has undergone 15 surgeries to repair the damage — and a 16th is on the horizon.

Lt. Christopher Paris is Douglass' boss at the Blooming Grove barracks. He says Douglass is "doing as well as can be expected."

Thirty-one-year-old Eric Frein is charged with opening fire outside the barracks on Sept. 12, hitting Douglass in the pelvis and killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson.

The alleged gunman led police on a tense 48-day manhunt through the northeastern Pennsylvania woods before U.S. marshals caught him outside an abandoned airplane hangar.